Introduction

In 2011 the Swiss Space Center sent a group of 9 students (including two students from ETHZ, new this year!) to participate in the summer school Space Development Technology and Practice (July 3 - July 13, 2011). This school is organized in the framework of cooperation between EPFL and Bauman Moscow State University (BMSTU). Swiss Space Center and Youth Space Center BMSTU have established a fruitful cooperation and student exchanges. On this page you will find a short diary and photo report from the students who went to the program.

July 3, Sunday

After our first night in Moscow we were looking forward to see more of the incredible city. The planned sightseeing trip throughout the day seemed to be the perfect start to a very interesting stay. We started in the center of Moscow with the Lenin Mausoleum (there are a lot of memorial tombs for very famous Russian engineers and space enthusiasts too) proceeded through the Alexandrovsky Garden with the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” to the core of the Kremlin with the marvelous cathedrals and architecture. During the whole tour we where guided by our Russian friends from the BMSTU who provided us with a lot of information and some times even sang  traditional Russian songs for us.

After taking a lot of group pictures on the Red Square we continued our sightseeing tour in the Arbat street, which is a nice pedestrian area with a lot of tourist shops. It was a good spot to have a coffee and listen to street artists. Before going back to our hostel we stopped by the Moscow State University, which is situated above the city center with a gorgeous view over the city. We ended that day as all the following days: sitting all together in the corridors of our hostel sharing stories, impressions and knowledge.

July 4, Monday

On Monday the official events of SDTP camp began. During breakfast we were told to dress smart for the official Opening Ceremony of the Space Camp. We were taken to a very elegant room in Bauman University and were introduced to the Heads of university as well as the whole Space Camp idea and goals. Towards the end of the session we met the first cosmonaut and had a chance to ask him anything that interested us regarding space operations and life up there. Finally, welcome packages were given to all the participants which included few booklets and most importantly the red SDTP-2011 t-shirts, at that point we had no idea we’ll be wearing them so often!

In the afternoon, the next stop was Bauman University museum. It covered the whole history of the university and emphasised on the famous professors and students as well as their achievements and completed projects. Not only there were many pictures and descriptions, but actual physical devices of new inventions at the time, some of them could be moved and rotated to understand the working principle. Perfect place for an engineer!

After having dinner back in the student dorm and putting on brand new red SDTP t-shirts, we headed back to the university for a lecture. And as if meeting one cosmonaut a day is not enough, we had a chance to talk to Sergei Krikalev. The session went on for quite a while as he kept being bombarded with various questions from students and always gave thorough answers resulting in a very interesting and inspiring talk.

July 5, Tuesday

Today we had a great chance to visit Zvezda museum! In the morning our guide took us down stairs to a basement museum honoring some of the companies contributions to the Soviet space program. The museum was full of aircraft-­‐type ejection seats with parachute and communications equipment. Another interesting point was seeing the real space suit worn by Yuri Gagarin in the historic Vostok 1 first manned flight into space!

Another great moment of the day was Moscow ballet. After lunch we went to one of the most famous theater of city. Without any doubt I would say the most amazing ballet I ever see. The day finished with a great dinner in a traditional Russian restaurant.

July 6, Wednesday

In the morning, we visited a park and a memorial of the second world war. After lunch at Bauman University we had the chance to visit the mission control center in Korolev. It was absolutely awesome and we were able to talk to cosmonauts on the ISS, by video-conference. Each of the groups had prepared questions in advance, and we had about ten minutes to ask all of them! The building and the control room were very impressive and we could see the work of the people on the ground to sustain the ISS.

After we came back, we attended a lecture given by Viktor (our awesome story-telling guide and interpreter) on planetary robotics. Still after this (yes, the days were long, we had so much to do), we had the "rocket modeling class" and could build the first part our own small rockets.

To finish the day: Well, party! Most of us met in the American room and spent the largest part of the night having fun and talking with friends.

July 8, Friday

This day has begun with a 3 hours trip to the Star city and more precisely to the "Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center". In a first time, we saw the centrifuge, its length is 18m for a total weight of 300m, it is the biggest one in the world. Every cosmonaut had and will have to test their resistance to g loads in the small cabin attached to the centrifuge tip. Then we visited the "hydrolab", it is a neutral buoyancy pool in which the cosmonauts are training for extra vehicular activities. Finally we saw some simulators such as the transport vehicle integrated simulator in which the crews learn to control the "Soyouz" and the rendezvous and docking simulators.

Once the visit of the Star city finished we had lunch and went to the "Monino airfield museum". This is basically a gathering of airplanes and helicopters. It goes from the first russian airplanes to the latest Sukhoïs. The museum's guide was a former Tupolev bomber pilot, he presented us a lot of strange aircrafts are presented like the "Sukhoï T-4", made of titanium and stainless steel, it weighted so much that 5 engines were required.

On the way back to the hostel, we had again the taste of Moscow's traffic jams. On the same time we learnt that Atlantis had been successfully launched. This day ended in our hostel, having fun together.

July 9, Saturday

Having hosted near the main building of the Bauman University we did not really understand why we have to stress and board into the bus for the visit of the Bauman University Educational and Experimental Center. Finally after a Bus trip of 3 hours we came in Dmitrov where the Baumann University has a branch. The branch consists of a huge hall where a lot of different original rocket parts (and not the smallest one) are stoked and are made available for the students. We were like children in a toy store where we had the possibility to try every toy. After the visit of the center which shows us the genius of the Russian rocket builder we had a typical Russian lunch at the center.

Being in the north of Moscow, on the way back we made a deviation to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Back in Moscow, in the evening we started and made the teams for the team project. The team project consists to develop a rover which will operate on Mercury.

July 11, Monday

We visited so much the since the beginning, that our project didn't progress much. As the final presentation is to be held the day after, it's our last day to work, and that's what we did.

The entire day was dedicated to our project. Working by team on the different parts of our Mercurian Rover, we had to finalize the project.
Defining the requirements, the specificities and capabilities. Finding out the materials, the hardware and the design to use. Constantly jumping from group to group, to make sure than our design would fit with the other parts of the rover. Building up virtually our rover in 3D. Finally, the preparation of the presentation went on late at night for some groups (while others were enjoying some drinks).

 

This day was definitely the most exhausting for our brains, but also the most encouraging when, at last, we realized that the project looks good. That was an amazing experience of team working and international, multilingual cooperation driven by our common interest in space technologies.